JEDDAH, 18 July 2005 — Millions are being spent in investments on tourism projects around the Kingdom. Are they however seeing enough of a return to encourage more investments? That depends on how many tourists these projects are attracting whether from inside the Kingdom or from other countries. That in turn depends on facilitating, marketing and providing all the necessary services and regulations that ease and simplify the process of entering the Kingdom, traveling in it and enjoying its attractions affordably and without hassle.
The International Tourism Organization report states that Saudi tourists make the largest number of Arab external tourists. It estimated that last year five million Saudi tourists traveled abroad and spent $6 billion. Saudi Arabian Airlines alone is expecting to fly 5.4 million Saudi tourists to local destinations and abroad. Tourists coming to the Kingdom were 7.3 million, according to the report, 3.5 million of whom came for Umrah, 1.3 million for Haj and 2.5 million for medical treatment and conferences.
Clearly, most tourists to the Kingdom are here for religious duties and not entertainment or shopping. The Ministry of Haj recently agreed with the Supreme Commission for Tourism to license Umrah companies to become tourism companies to facilitate the stay of Umrah visitors as tourists. A recent survey by The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute of Haj Research showed that 23 percent of Umrah performers arranged their travel and accommodations without signing up with an Umrah company; 77 percent came through an Umrah company.
The study showed that 75 percent came by air, 15 percent by land and 9 percent by sea. Interestingly, 70 percent of the surveyed Umrah performers from 82 different countries said they wished to visit other cities in the Kingdom but the system does not allow it.
Most of those surveyed said it was easy to get the Umrah visa, but as we know Saudi Arabia does not offer tourist visas. However, Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism told Okaz newspaper that tourist visas are at the final stages of being approved.
Prince Sultan emphasized that tourism is private sector industry and the role of the public sector is to provide the system, regulations and infrastructure upon which the private sector can establish their projects and programs. In addition to decreasing the hemorrhaging of money over our borders, the tourism industry is a great job creating markets for many sectors.
The SCT signed an agreement with the Institute of Haj research to study the tourism job market needs of human resources to train Saudis with the intention of having 80 percent of the sector Saudized in three years. The private sector already sees the opportunities present in investing in tourism and not just in Jeddah, arguably the most attractive tourism site.
In Asir, hotel occupancy has been at 90 percent since the start of Asir’s summer festival last week, which offers different cultural programs and activities, according to Al-Watan newspaper. Al-Hada in the south of the Western region, a beautiful mountain resort that has always been a favorite with Saudi and Gulf tourists, is also seeing several tourism projects that contributed to a 70 percent increase in tourists this year. In the Eastern Province, tourism investors in entertainment centers, commercial centers and beach cabins are estimating a return of SR180 million since the start of Eastern Summer 26, according to Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper.
Prince Sultan admits that Saudi tourism needs organization and structure. “We are at the fourth stage of our strategy which is the implementation stage in all 13 provinces,” he said to Okaz. “We do not have tourist destinations except for the cities such as Jeddah, and we don’t have main players in tourism. We began developing tours and we also began a program of financing tourist programs in the regions and signed eight agreements for such programs and hope to increase that number. We have made a proposal waiting approval by the government on reorganizing the main sectors working in tourism to be under the umbrella of the SCT,” said the prince.
The SCT is studying the main obstacles facing tourism investors and found that the main problem is lack of a unified reference on tourism and the conflict of authorities among the different administrations. The proposal is to make the SCT the primary authority in tourism investment and it is expecting a decision soon.
As we can see from the various summer festivals taking place at the same time in the regions there is a competition that might not be financially rewarding enough given the limited number of tourists. The SCT aims to organize the tourism activities in the various regions to become more of an economic industry rather than a seasonal activity.
